Google DeepMind has been reorganized: Jeff Dean is leaving the company, and Hassabis is taking on a new role
Google has reorganized its artificial intelligence division, Google DeepMind: the company’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, is leaving to found his own startup, while DeepMind co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis is taking on the role of division head and will focus on long-term research. This was reported by The Verge.
According to the publication, Dean’s startup will operate on Google Cloud. He is leaving the company along with several other Google employees. Following Hassabis’s change in role at Google DeepMind, there will no longer be a separate CEO—the division will be led by a senior vice president.
These personnel changes come amid discussions in the tech industry about Google’s competitiveness in developing cutting-edge AI models. The Verge notes that the company has significant resources, data, infrastructure, and capabilities to integrate AI into its products, particularly Google Search. At the same time, according to sources interviewed by the publication, Gemini 3.5-class models do not rank among the top in industry-specific ratings.
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the company aims to remain among the leaders in the field of AI and is focusing on areas that need improvement. Hassabis, for his part, announced the start of a new phase for the company and expressed confidence that it has what it takes to lead.
Sources speaking with The Verge noted that Hassabis and Dean are most closely associated with fundamental research, particularly global models, disease research, and drug development. The reorganization can be seen as an attempt to accelerate the transformation of research into products; however, according to those interviewed, the leadership changes could also exacerbate the exodus of specialists.
In its analysis, the investment research firm SemiAnalysis stated that DeepMind is allegedly no longer a cutting-edge lab. At the same time, The Verge called such a categorical conclusion premature: Google may still return to a leading position in model development, although competition with other AI labs is intensifying.
